Richard Parker’s “phenomenal” victory in the West Midlands mayoral election has exceeded Labor’s expectations, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Mr Parker ousted Andy Street, the Tory incumbent, by 1,508 votes, a further blow for Rishi Sunak after a disappointing weekend.
Labor declared victory shortly before Sandwell confirmed his result in a contest that went down to the wire. Mr Parker received a total of 225,590 votes across the West Midlands Combined Authority, while Mr Street won 224,082.
Sir Keir said after the result: “This phenomenal result exceeded our expectations. People across the country have had enough of the chaos and decline of the Tories and have voted for change with Labor. Our fantastic new Mayor, Richard Parker, is ready to deliver a fresh start for the West Midlands.
“My new Labor Party is back serving working people and ready to govern. Labor will turn the page after fourteen years of Conservative decline and usher in a decade of national renewal. This change starts today.
-In his acceptance speech, Mr Parker praised Andy Street for “leading this region through a number of challenges”, telling him “you deserve great credit for that”.
He added: “You deserve credit for making the Combined Authority the powerhouse it is today, through economic shocks and leading this region through Covid… I absolutely believe that even if our politics are different, Andy, we both have the best. West Midlands interests at heart.
The new mayor then became visibly emotional as he thanked his wife and family for supporting him and “being there when I wasn’t”, before urging Mr Sunak to call a general election.
Mayor of the West Midlands since 2017, Mr Street hoped that his personal popularity, which far exceeded that of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister, would have been enough to challenge the party’s poor performance in local and municipal elections.
Meanwhile, Reform UK picked up more than 30,000 votes, helping to eat into what was already a slim Conservative majority, while Labor also lost tens of thousands of votes to a pro-Palestinian independent candidate , a foretaste of their own potential difficulties as they approach the general. election.
